In Los Angeles, a startup called Daqri has designed a different kind of hard hat: an Android-powered one that's capable of augmented reality. As such, it really looks more like a bike helmet than a hard hat, equipped with sensors, cameras and a transparent visor that functions as a head-up display. Unlike Google Glass that was designed with all kinds of consumers in mind, though, this high-tech hat was meant for industrial environments, to be used by engineers or blue-collar workers. It can show instructions and other digital elements superimposed against real-world equipment and objects without having to be manually operated. The hat can also give out early warning signals in case it catches anything that could be dangerous, or perform thorough quality checks on expensive machinery like satellites. If needed, it can pair up with smartwatches, phones and other devices, as well.

We've heard music made from bats' echolocation signals and the sounds of glaciers before, but what about tunes composed with something a little more, say, industrial? And no, we aren't talking about Nine Inch Nails' classic The Downward Spiral. Think more along the lines of a song comprised of sounds from pneumatic equipment and welders and you're most of the way there. As spotted by Laughing Squid, musician Matthew Dear partnered with GE and recorded the acoustics used to diagnose the performance of turbines and jet engines, among other things, and the result is a dance-ready electronic track dubbed "Drop Science." Sure, artists including Amon Tobin have done similar sorts of things before, but not at such a grand scale. Curious to hear what it sounds like when thousands of machines are humming at peak performance? Check out the video and audio embedded below.

Kaspersky Labs' namesake Eugene Kaspersky is worried that widely distributed and potentially state-sponsored malware like Flame and Stuxnet pose dire threats to often lightly protected infrastructure like communication and power plants -- whatever your nationality, it's clearly bad for the civilian population of a given country to suffer even collateral damage from cyberattacks. To minimize future chaos and literally keep the trains running, Kaspersky and his company are expanding their ambitions beyond mere antivirus software to build their own, extra-secure operating system just for large-scale industry. The platform depends on a custom, minimalist core that refuses to run any software that isn't baked in and has no code outside of its main purposes: there'll be no water supply shutdowns after the night watch plays Solitaire from an infected drive. Any information shared from one of these systems should be completely trustworthy, Kaspersky says. He doesn't have details as to when the OS will reach behind-the-scenes hardware, but he stresses that this is definitely not an open-source project: some parts of the OS will always remain confidential to keep ne'er-do-well terrorists (and governments) from undermining the technology we often take for granted.

Fitting a truly quick solid-state drive into a small space isn't easy, and for that reason RunCore's new Mini DOM (Disk On Module) stands out from the crowd. It's billed as the first single-chip SSD to use a SATA interface (SATA II, to be exact), giving it that much more bandwidth than the pokey IDE and PATA DOMs of old while remaining under half the size of a regular mSATA drive. RunCore's own tests show it hitting about 113MB/s sequential reads and 47MB/s writes. Neither figure will knock the socks off even a mainstream budget SSD like Intel's SSD 330, but they're more than brisk enough for embedded gear. The drives can survive brutal conditions, too: an Industrial Grade trim level can survive temperatures as chilly as -40F and as scorching as 185F. So, the next time you pry open some military equipment and see one of these sitting inside, in three different formats and capacities from 8GB to 64GB, you'll know exactly what you're looking at.

We were pretty impressed when we got the chance to gaze at HDI 3D's silky smooth, 43-inch 3D LCD last year, which is why our eyes widened when the company announced that it's begun producing a new line of 3D projectors, slated for release as early as 2012. First up in the awkwardly named Laser-Driven 2D/3D Switchable Dynamic Video Projector series is the LSS Pro 1 (pictured above) -- a tank that's powered by as many as two Laser-Drive Engines and capable of displaying both 2D and 3D images on HDI's 300 inch Laser Silver Screen. A full 100 of the systems will be available on February 14th as part of a pre-production run, but they certainly won't be cheap, with prices ranging from $55,000 to $85,000. As many as five similar models are expected to begin shipping by the end of next year, including the Industrial, Origami and Polygon. Beam past the break for more details in the press release, or check out our gallery to see the full lineup.
Gallery-130325

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Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:47:00 -040021|20014014http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/24/habey-usas-12-inch-panel-pc-brings-that-rugged-look-to-your-hom/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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It's a shame this steel-encased touchscreen PC from Habey USA arrived too late for our violent outburst on the Engadget Show, but at least it has some broadly agreeable specs. The PPC-6512 can reel off 1080p vids on its 12-inch screen while consuming just 30W thanks to its 1.8GHz Atom D525 and NVIDIA Ion GT218 combo. An empty 2.5-inch removable HDD tray and eSATA port give it potential as a networked storage hub, and an old-school serial port lets it handle home automation controls too. It could also be used as a comms or security terminal, as there's a 1.3MP webcam on board, vesa mounting holes and four USB 2.0 ports. Heck, we'd buy three and rig our whole house up -- were it not for the $800 price tag, the apparently limited availability on Habey USA's underloved Amazon page, and the fact that we like our terminals to show a bit of emotion. Full specs in the PR after the break.

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Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:19:00 -040021|19998901http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/eizo-industrial-monitor-does-4k-resolution-at-36-inches-start-s/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Looking for a display that can do justice to all that 4K footage you've been shooting on your Red One or Arri Alexa lately? Okay, perhaps not. But if you were, then the DuraVision FDH3601 from Eizo Nanao could handle it easily with 4096 x 2160 pixels spread over 36.4-inches of LED-backlit real estate. It comes with another big number too: a price tag of ¥2.88 million ($36,000), which gently hints at the fact that this beast is primarily aimed at specialist industrial applications. Eizo claims it's perfect for air traffic control, where staff can make full use of specs like "Digital Uniformity Correction" circuitry to compensate for uneven color or brightness, motion sensors to power the monitor on or off as needed, and a stand that can be minutely adjusted to get the perfect angle. Suddenly, despite the heavy burden of responsibility and the fact that you have to keep your phone switched off all the time, that career choice seems almost worth it.

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Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:54:00 -040021|19972199http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/13/biodiesel-can-be-harvested-from-leftover-food-kids-no-longer-ha/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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The best dishes always contain 30 per cent fat minimum. This doesn't merely ensure a level of hearty satisfaction (Windows 7 Whopper anybody?), it also means the leftovers contain plenty of the greasy good stuff, which can be cleverly harvested and metamorphosed into biodiesel. The technology behind this process has been around for a while, but now British firm Greenergy claims it is ramping up commercial production. The firm's CEO reckons each of his new £50million ($80million) biodiesel plants will digest a sufficient volume of waste pies, fries and taramasalata to "fill out a cruise ship every year". Mmmm, pie.

Eurotech's Zypad series of wearable tablets may all look like props from mid-1990s sci-fi movies, but we can't help but admire them just a little bit for that very reason -- even if we wouldn't be caught dead wearing one. The latest is the "faster" and "lighter" Zypad WL1500, which packs a 3.5-inch QVGA display (resistive, naturally), a Marvell PXA320 processor, a whopping 128MB of flash storage, and some 3G connectivity in addition to WiFi and Bluetooth -- not to mention Windows CE 6.0 for an OS. If you haven't figured it out by now, this one isn't exactly intended for consumer use, but Eurotech is still targeting a fairly broad audience of professional users, including folks in everything from law enforcement to transportation to medical fields. Look for it to be available in the second quarter of this year for a yet to be disclosed price.

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Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:07:00 -040021|19886847http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/16/eizo-rolls-out-17-inch-flexscan-t1751-multitouch-monitor/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Eizo may not be aiming this one directly at average consumers, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up its new 17-inch FlexScan T1751 monitor to make your industrial-style multitouch dreams come true. As you can sort of see above, this one can either be used upright or titled nearly flat, and it packs a non-widescreen, 5:4 aspect ratio -- albeit with a slightly disappointing 1,280 x 1,024 resolution. The monitor will work with a touch pen and gloved hands, however, and you'll get a decent 178 degree viewing angle, along with a 1,500:1 contrast ratio, a pair of built-in 0.5W speakers, a headphone jack and, true to its industrial nature, a non-scratch surface made of reinforced glass. No official word on a price or release date, unfortunately -- Eizo is simply telling folks to check with their local distributor for details.

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Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:40:00 -040021|19676249http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/stealths-rugged-usb-keyboard-is-extremely-tough-extremely-pri/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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There are no hard and fast rules in the gadget game, but there is one bit of wisdom we generally stand by: everything benefits by being ruggedized. Sure, we know this speaks to a deep-seated need to smash things, drown things, run 'em over in a truck or shoot them -- and we're not making any excuses. Housed in vandal resistant stainless steel, the Stealth KYBX-400-DT-BL-TB-USB keyboard feature an optical trackball mouse, and NVIS-compliant red adjustable backlighting (just the thing for when you dig out the night vision goggles). If that weren't enough, the whole thing is environmentally sealed to NEMA 4, 4X, IP65 specifications (whatever that means). Yours now for $695! Get a closer look below.
Gallery-101177

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Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:03:00 -040021|19619047http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/13/doc-marten-usb-drive-makes-puppies-look-skinny-gristle-throb/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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We've all been there: hands punched violently into pockets, conspicuously affected by the visceral industrial hum of big city decay. If only we had this $25 limited edition 50th anniversary 2GB "stomper" USB drive to complete our ensemble. Who knows, in the right hands it might have helped Jesus build a hotrod.

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Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:46:00 -040021|19592223http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/06/sony-rolls-out-vpl-gh10-sxrd-projector-for-industrial-types/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/06/sony-rolls-out-vpl-gh10-sxrd-projector-for-industrial-types/http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/06/sony-rolls-out-vpl-gh10-sxrd-projector-for-industrial-types/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsSo let's say you're an industrial-type who needs a projector for your simulation or visualization "setup" (aka your home theater), but Sony's SRX-T110 / SRX-T105 4k x 2k models are a bit overkill (or over-budget) -- what do you reach for? Sony's new VPL-GH10 model might be just the thing. Packing a more modest 1920x1080 pixels and Sony's 120Hz Motionflow technology with dark frame insertion, you should get crispy images, even during the most intense Call of Duty sessions. Motorized lens shifts, adjustments via Ethernet and a DVI interface for connection to honest-to-goodness image generators round out the package. Heck, those motorized lens shifts alone might make your couch-potato self eye this model over the VPL-HW10; just know the price is sure to be targeted more towards "industrial" than "consumer" use when it shows up this spring.

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Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:33:00 -050021|1389499http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/30/prosilicas-ge1910-camera-brings-kodak-hd-sensor-together-with-g/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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If you're looking for HD resolution in an industrial app -- you know, so your work rig can be on equal footing with your home one -- last month's introduction of the Kodak KAI-02150 HD CCD sensor may have caught your attention. But not everyone is into developing cameras from sensors, so Prosilica has kindly done that lifting for you with its new (but almost as forgettably named) GE1910 camera. The GE1910 puts the Kodak sensor into a C-mount lens body up front, a Gigabit Ethernet interface (GigE Vision standard) around back and a host of camera control features between (binning, shutter, IP configuration, etc.). Surely you can find a work-related requirement for this kind of hardware, right?

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Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:59:00 -050021|1385857http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/04/kodaks-new-ccd-brings-hd-to-industrial-applications/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/04/kodaks-new-ccd-brings-hd-to-industrial-applications/http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/04/kodaks-new-ccd-brings-hd-to-industrial-applications/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsIf your day job involves some CCD imaging, Kodak wants to bring some HD excitement to your 9-to-5 with its KAI-02150 (the name alone says "buttoned-down") CCD sensor. The interline transfer sensor reads out its 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second and boasts high dynamic range (64dB) needed for many industrial applications. Engineering samples are available now, which will give you a few months to retool your microscopy/machine vision/imaging science application with eye-popping HD before production hits its stride in Q4 2008.

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Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -040021|1331938http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/20/fujitsus-latest-mhz2-hdds-cant-stop-wont-stop-under-continuo/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Fujitsu has a MHZ2 for nearly any application: hardcore security, tight spaces and now continuous operations. The 2.5-inch MHZ2-BK (7,200 RPM) and MHZ2-BS (5,400 RPM) SATA drives are being offered up in sizes as large as 250GB, and as you could likely guess, they'll keep right on keepin' on even under heavy nonstop loads. Designed specifically for use in "business critical and industrial applications that require higher storage capacity," these HDDs are meant to survive the most grueling of tasks, though we're not specifically told what all they actually can live through. Nevertheless, trusting souls can snap up a couple of the MHZ2-BS units right now (pricing not disclosed), while the quicker MHZ2-BK series won't be available until July.